Knight Rider (1988 video game)

Knight Rider (ナイトライダー Naito Raidā) is a racing video game[4] for the Nintendo Entertainment System that is very loosely based on the television show of the same name.

This article is about the 1988 NES game. For other Knight Rider video games, see Knight Rider.

Knight Rider
North American cover art
Developer(s)	Pack-In-Video[1]
Publisher(s)	JP: Pack-In-Video NA: Acclaim[1]
Platform(s)	NES/Family Computer[1]
Release	JP: September 30, 1988[1] NA: December 1989[2] EU: July 27, 1990[1]
Genre(s)	Racing[1]
Mode(s)	Single-player

Reception
Review score Publication Score AllGame [3]

Gameplay

The gameplay is simple: There are fifteen cities that are featured, starting with San Francisco and ending in Los Angeles. KITT can be upgraded with more fuel and shield capacities. It can also have its top speed upgraded, and how many lasers/missiles it starts with. In the first six missions, there are allies, represented by Knight trucks who will give a powerup to you.

Mission mode

Terrorists have raided a U.S. military site; only a man and his robotic car can chase them across the United States to stop their evil plan. A time limit helps put pressure on the player as he attempts to defeat the terrorist forces. There are three types of vehicles in this mode: Red (enemies), blue (civilians) and yellow (enemies who carry powerups). KITT has structural shielding; however the vehicle is considered destroyed if it repeatedly crashes or enemy gunfire depletes the shielding.[5] Despite the non-violent premise of the television show, "Mission Mode" makes use of firearms as way to enhance play, similar to RoadBlasters. Shooting non-combatant (blue) vehicles deducts from the timer, making the completion of a level more difficult. After every third level, Devon will offer the player a password that can be used to resume the journey from that point.

Drive mode

There is also a drive mode that allows players to go on a simple drive through the game's stages without weapons or enemy fire.

Ways to lose a life

Players can and will lose lives if any of these things happen: running out of gasoline, destruction of the player's vehicle, or if time is allowed to run out. Occasionally, allies will give the player either extra time, extra shields, or extra gasoline.[5] It is important to be able to discriminate between enemies, civilians and allies. Losing lives is possible in both the "normal" and the "drive" mode. Unlike a racing game, speed is not important; instead the emphasis is on being able to make the journey from the start of the level to the end without running out of fuel or having excessive contact with the other vehicles.

Music

The game pointedly does not include the iconic theme from the Knight Rider television show.[6].

See also

• Knight Rider franchise

References

1. "Release information". GameFAQs. Archived from the original on 2008-07-25. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
2. "NES Games" (PDF). Nintendo. p. 7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2008-09-21. Retrieved 2020-01-08.
3. Hoffman, Joshua. "Knight Rider review". AllGame. Archived from the original on 2014-11-16. Retrieved 2020-01-08.
4. "A Brief History of Every TV Version of Knight Rider, Ever". Gizmodo. Gizmodo. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
5. "Basic gameplay information". MobyGames. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
6. "THE FANTASTIC CAR RETRO 'Knight Rider', we analyzed the adaptation for NES of the unforgettable series '". Zonared. Zonared. Retrieved 12 August 2018.